Proposed Activities

ActivityFunded (Y/N)CostDelivery Date
Incremental Improvements to Code ManagementY

$15,000 (HEC labor)

$50,000 (contract)

 

HEC-ResSim 4.0 Testing for Final Software ReleaseY

$300,000 (HEC labor)

 

Evaluate, Prioritize, and Fix BugsY

$15,000 (HEC labor)

$97,000 (contract)

 

Technology Transfer - Field SupportY$50,000 (HEC labor)

 

Technology Transfer - Documentation UpdatesY$25,000 (HEC labor)

 

Technology Transfer - MMC Monthly Working Sessions Y$6,500 (HEC labor)

 

Technology Transfer - Development of New TutorialsY$10,000 (HEC labor)

 

OSI EnhancementsY

$10,000 (HEC Labor)

$30,000 (Contract)

 

OSI Scripts Development

 N

$10,000 (HEC labor)

 

Incremental Improvements to Code Management

In conjunction with the rest of HEC, HEC-ResSim has been working to revolutionize its approach to code management by moving away from older style waterfall releases and into a DevOps framework. The 22 years of code history means the change will not be a simple switch, but instead an ongoing process of improvement. HEC-ResSim has adopted new DevOps tooling and continues to work on implementing techniques that will help buy down technical debt and shorten the release cycle. Incremental improvements include steps such as incorporating more unit tests, supporting and adapting to shared code refactoring, and seeking better coordination between the HEC team and the programming team. This activity is an important investment in the long term viability of the software.

HEC-ResSim 4.0 Testing for Final Software Release

Aside from user support, the primary goal for the HEC-ResSim team in FY25 is to release HEC-ResSim 4.0. The bulk of activities to support the release are aimed at testing. This will not only identify issues and help establish the severity of any changes, but will also help to identify what is different between HEC-ResSim versions 3.5 and 4.0.

HEC-ResSim 4.0 code has been developed separately from HEC-ResSim 3.5 since 2017. Many changes have occurred during that time, including the addition of the new water quality feature, as well improvements to water supply features, operational diversions, scripting improvements, and more as yet uncatalogued changes. Since shared code has been refactored a few times, there are also interactions between the general HEC-ResSim code and shared code that may require further attention. Some version 4.0 testing has already taken place, but the testing is an iterative process, and during future testing the HEC-ResSim team expects to uncover a variety of bugs and issues related to the many changes that have taken place over the years and which have so far only been used by a select few modelers. 

The team is working on improving the compute testing techniques, including increasing automation and creating a wider range of tests to cover pointed, specific tests and large, comprehensive systemic tests. Additionally, the team will be working on adding more manual UI feature-specific tests to cover changes that may have occurred between the 3.5 and 4.0 versions and to cover new 4.0 features. The CAVI team is doing similar testing improvements, which will include the integration testing necessary for a smooth transition for HEC-ResSim versions, especially given improvements to model linking and HEC-ResSim variants management. User beta testing is also part of the testing plan.

All of this testing work is essential to providing users with an HEC-ResSim 4.0 that reasonably matches or improves upon the quality of the 3.5 results and user experience. It also allows the team to give users more complete information about what to expect when upgrading to version 4.0. The improved testing framework will also assist with ongoing development, making it easier to avoid introducing new bugs each time the code is updated.

Evaluate, Prioritize, and Fix Bugs

In response to findings from the compute, UI, and user-based testing, the HEC-ResSim team will evaluate the significance of issues identified. The team will prioritize the most essential fixes, and document issues that cannot be fixed before release. In order to achieve the HEC-ResSim 4.0 release in a time- and cost-efficient manner, not all issue will be fixed. The impact and risk of any identified issues will be considered when balancing the time needed for a fix against the time needed to turn off a feature (or simply document the issue). This work ensures that key bugs are addressed and modeling capabilities are not impaired when users transition to HEC-ResSim 4.0.

Field Support

The team will continue to provide support to the field as part of this year's efforts. This activity includes responding to questions and requests for help via Discourse (https://discourse.hecdev.net/c/hec-ressim/rss-support/46), email (HEC.ResSim@usace.army.mil), and phone. It involves work such as tracking down software issues, troubleshooting, and assisting with modeling techniques. The purpose of this work is to provide needed support to the modelers so that they can successfully accomplish their modeling goals.

Documentation Updates

This activity addresses the need to develop updated user documentation for the HEC-ResSim 4.0 release. It involves updating the Confluence-based User's Manual to document new features, updates, and any bugs that have been identified but could not be fixed within the release timeline and budget. This documentation is essential for providing modelers with the information relevant to their work, especially when they are updating to a new version of the software.

MMC Monthly Working Sessions

The MMC hosts monthly working sessions on the CWMS Modeling Group within Microsoft Teams, allowing HEC-ResSim modelers to get support from experts. The team will continue to participate in these meetings, as they have proven valuable to the field. These sessions are a valuable way to provide field support, answer questions, and demonstrate important capabilities of the software to attendees.

Development of New Tutorials

Tutorials will be developed to assist modelers in using newer HEC-ResSim features. Planned tutorials include an application of the OSI for overwriting reservoir releases and an application of the new water quality capabilities in HEC-ResSim 4.0.

OSI Enhancements

The team will target OSI enhancements that provide extra convenience and efficiency for users to enter overrides for the simulation period. This work includes the ability to ingest and display observed time series in the OSI, a new editor that allows users to enter a minimum amount of daily or irregular instances of overrides (which would automatically distribute based on the simulation timestep), and a new table filling option to repeat or average a selected range of overrides. 

OSI Scripts Development (not funded)

The team will develop example gate overrides scripts that can be adapted for district watersheds. The gate overrides scripts will allow users to input desired gate settings, which would then be translated to flow overrides in the OSI.